A Tangled Web of Storytelling

My movie buddy and I went to the new Spiderman movie as we both enjoy an action flick, as well as the first Spiderman movie with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in the starring roles. At the midway point of this newest release, however, we were ready to bow out gracefully as the movie became a tangled web of 6 separate stories that would literally stop, then begin another plotline, creating mini-episodes rather than a cohesive plot. The movie slams its way to an ending that serves the purpose only of leaving room for another sequel by introducing yet another character that Spiderman has to handle.

The first plot focuses on Spiderman’s relationship with Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone. They get more serious and seem to be moving toward a real relationship when shazaam! Another story takes off in a different direction, this time focused on Peter Parker’s father’s role in genetic engineering of spiders and hidden venom that could save the life of Harry Osborne, played by Dane DeHaan, who is dying of the same disease that takes his father’s life in the beginning of the plot line. Then there’s the move by the board of OsCorp to take control of the company away from Harry. Zap! Onto a fourth plot line, this time featuring Max Dillon (played by Jamie Foxx), who morphs into Electro and throws electrical charges at people and places, shutting down New York’s power grid, but that’s okay because that storyline would have us believe that Gwen Stacy, Peter’s girlfriend, knows how to restart the entire power grid of New York City! The next plot begins with yet another Spiderman nemesis coming after Peter Parker, but I cannot tell you which one of the villains this is until I see the next Spiderman movie installment.

The last storyline is the deepening love between Peter and Gwen, but SPOILER ALERT Gwen dies and I did not see that coming, especially not based on the movie subplot about their relationship, which led me and my buddy to believe that they would be together, forever, rama rama ding dong!

No, I did not like this movie primarily because whoever was in charge of editing it did a poor job of deciding what to include and what to delete. I almost felt as if I had picked up six different comic issues of the Spiderman series and had to read them all at the same time and make sense of all of them at the same time. I go to movies to be entertained, not irritated!